Sunday, September 20, 2015

Don't blame the gay Doritos for the latest bout of Christian madness

Gay Doritos

Frito-Lay, snack food division of PepsiCo and maker of Doritos, partnered with the It Gets Better campaign and produced gay pride chips in rainbow colors for sale exclusively on-line with proceeds going to the It Gets Better campaign. They are all gone by the way. Sold out. This was all done in advance of Sunday's Dallas Pride parade which has the corporate sponsorship of Frito-Lay.

The thing that is driving the Christians to new heights of insanity isn't the gay chips; It is that fact that the founder of the It Gets Better Campaign is Dan Savage. Conservative Christians hate Dan Savage.
As Bill Johnson of the American Decency Association explains in an email titled “Frito-Lay Chips Away at Christians” (after a lengthy tirade about gay Oreo Cookies, gay Chobani yogurt and other same-sex savories):

The ironic thing is, the non-profit, It Gets Better, is founded by one of the biggest bullies of them all, Dan Savage. Savage is a gay rights advocate who makes it his mission to malign Christians and anyone who doesn’t share his agenda. I won’t repeat the foul and hate-filled verbal attacks he’s launched at people such as Mike Huckabee, Ben Carson, Rick Santorum, and other conservative Christians. However, if you need proof click here and here.

Savage doesn’t stop at hurling his venom at politicians and other Christian leaders. For one who is supposedly concerned about young people being bullied because of their sexuality, he has had no qualms about bullying young people because of their faith.

In 2012 when speaking at a high school journalism convention supposedly about bullying, he instead chose to berate Christianity and the Bible. His diatribe was so offensive and vile that a number of bold young people stood up in the midst of their peers and walked out. As they left the auditorium, Savage lambasted them, calling them names such as “pansy—ssed.”

So who is the bully? The Christian standing up for his beliefs, or the so-called “anti-bullying activist” who bullies anyone who disagrees with him?

This has nothing to do with Dan Savage personally. This is about making the lives of gay kids better. Unless, of course, one does not think that they deserve an optimistic outlook. And, no, Dan Savage is not a bully. Mike Huckabee, Ben Carson and Rick Santorum have no problem spreading lies about gay people and denigrating gay people. They do this mostly for political purposes and to increase their speaking fees. Calling Dan Savage a bully for giving some back is ludicrous. Huckabee, Carson and Santorum can presumably take the hits to their egos. And those high school students were part of a planned demonstration and they did behave badly. Calling out white Christians isn't exactly bullying. Did any of them sustain any damage?

But I have a more important question. Savage saw a problem and did something to try to fix it. Savage probably saved lives:

Just what the fuck have any of these Christians done to help at-risk LGBT youth?

If low self-esteem is the problem — conservative Christianity seems to be the cause. Their answer to just about every problem that LGBT Americans face is to hurl more shame at them. Their idea of helping gay kids is to fight bans on conversion therapy. Comparing caustic criticism of Mike Huckabee to kids who come home bloody or beaten down every single day is obscene.

Johnson concludes:

Frito-Lay is not only using their product to push the LGBT agenda, but is also choosing to align which a man such as Dan Savage who makes it his mission to excoriate Christians.

Frito-Lay chief marketing officer Ram Krishnan said in a statement. “… With Doritos rainbow chips, we’re bringing an entirely new product experience to our consumers to show our commitment toward equal rights for the LGBT community and celebrate humanity without exception.”

However, Frito-Lay does seem to make one exception to their “celebration of humanity” – Christians.

Contact Frito-Lay to let them know how you feel about their partnership with Dan Savage and his bully tactics toward Christianity.

What a crock of shit. You would think that Christians are a persecuted minority. The good news is that corporate America is on to people like Bill Johnson.